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Stephen Harper's firing range: A list of 87 organizations and people attacked in five years

The Conservative government, or the Harper government as it insists upon being called, has either fallen or engineered its own defeat and the election is upon us. This is perhaps a good time to take stock of who the Harperites have spent their time attacking in the past several years. They have also lavished favour on their own, appointing them to be judges, to the Immigration Review Board, the CRTC or other federal agencies.

The list of organizations that have been shut down and cut back, and the individuals bullied, is a long one and we can expect it to grow if, as seems likely, Harper is reelected.

I have written extensively about some of these actions, including the government's attack on the ecumenical group KAIROS and the shameful treatment of the Rights and Democracy organization, but the following list, culled from online sources, is more comprehensive.

Organizations/ watchdogs whose staff have been fired, forced out, publicly maligned, or who have resigned in protest:

Community organizations, NGOs and research bodies reported to have been cut or defunded.

"Defunding" is the term used by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. In many instances, it is about turning down grant applications rather than cutting off funding midstream, but for organizations who rely on renewed program funding to support their work, and have done so for many years, it amounts to the same thing.

• Democracy Council: A forum for discussion and collaboration among Canadian democracy promotion agencies. It has reportedly disappeared despite stated earlier commitments and interest from both government and NGOs to see it continue and even expand.

Cut in the last few years by federal government because of alleged mismanagement: Source

• Immigrant settlement programs

• Inter-Cultural Neighbourhood Social Services (Peel)

Cut in the last few years by federal government because of alleged mismanagement: Source

• International Planned Parenthood Federation

• Kairos: Including Anglican Church of Canada, Christian Reformed Church in North America, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Mennonite Central Committee, Presbyterian Church in Canada, United Church of Canada, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Canadian Religious Conference, and the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund.

• Law Reform Commission of Canada

• Mada Al-Carmel Arab Centre

• Marie Stopes International, a maternal health agency -- has received only a promise of "conditional funding IF it avoids any and all connection with abortion.

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